Her name was Sharon Lee Gallegos. But for decades, the world knew her as Little Miss Nobody. In 2022, that changed when advanced DNA technology gave the little girl her name back. What happened to this little girl from Alamogordo, New Mexico? Nobody knows but her killers; all we do know is that Sharon Lee Gallegos did not deserve whatever happened to her.
The Abduction of Sharon Lee Gallegos
The Gallegos family searched for their little four-year-old girl relentlessly in Alamogordo after she disappeared one fateful July day in 1960. Over five hundred miles away, Little Miss Nobody was discovered in the Arizona desert on July 31, and law enforcement searched for her name relentlessly as well. But it would take 62 years to identify her as the missing Sharon Lee Gallegos.
Sharon’s sister describes her as spunky and rambunctious. In photos, you can tell she was a very cute and lively little girl. Whoever took her and did this to her had to have no heart. They also must have put up with quite a fight from her. I cannot see her docilely accepting her fate.
The day of her abduction, July 21, 1960, Sharon was playing at her grandmother’s house on Virginia Avenue in Alamogordo with her cousins. A dark green sedan pulled up and a woman leaned out the window and promised Sharon candy and new clothes. Sharon was a smart little girl and she refused to fall for the bait. That’s when the woman exited the vehicle, seized Sharon’s arm, drug her into the car, and then sped off at high speed with a male accomplice driving. The police were almost immediately notified and set up roadblocks leaving town – but obviously never apprehended the couple.
The woman was described as having dark blonde hair. The man had sandy hair and a long, thin nose. They were driving what is described as a dark green, beat-up, dirty 1955 or 56 Plymouth. Beyond that, nothing is known about this couple or who they were. Though they are probably dead now, surely someone knew them. Someone might still be able to come forward and solve this case.
Sharon’s cousin and aunt both reported seeing that dark green sedan in the vicinity of the house for days leading up to Sharon’s abduction. The car had been parked outside their church on July 17, seemingly watching them, and the presence of a freckled boy and a girl in the sedan were noted, along with the couple.
When Sharon and her cousins walked to the grocery store one day, they passed this car, and Sharon became scared and asked for her cousin to carry her. This suggests that the couple had harassed her before. Yet Sharon never said anything to her family and people didn’t take this car too seriously. After all, Alamogordo in that time period was a peaceful place. Horrific crimes just didn’t happen and people left their front doors and their cars unlocked.
Three days before her abduction, on July 19, the woman from the car had apparently gone up to a neighbor’s with lots of questions about Guadalupe, Sharon’s mother. She wanted to know how many children Guadalupe had and if she was in dire straits financially. The neighbor asked why the woman had so many nosy questions, and the woman claimed that she planned to hire Sharon’s mom.
Most disturbing to me was the presence of those other children in the sedan with the couple. The boy was described as having many freckles. The girl was described as small. They were only noticed one time, according to what I could find; when the couple abducted Sharon, her cousin did not mention the children being in the sedan that time. Were they kidnapped victims too? Did they meet tragic ends and get discarded in the desert like trash too? And if not, why was Sharon the one targeted?
According to some sources, there were two other graves dug near Sharon when she was found in Arizona, though they were empty. Could these graves have been meant for the other children? And if so, why weren’t they buried there? Perhaps they are other John and Jane Does, discovered in different areas, so their cases have never been connected to Sharon’s. Or perhaps they weren’t killed like Sharon was – maybe because they were more cooperative abductees or they were the biological children and unwilling accomplices of their murderous parents. They certainly add to the mystery and I fear their fates may be just as terrible and sad as Sharon’s was. If they are alive, I hope they come forward one day and share the details of that terrible ten-day period between Sharon’s kidnapping and death.
Little Miss Nobody’s Discovery
Sharon was discovered on July 31, 500 miles from home. She was partially burned and buried in a shallow grave in Sand Creek Wash near Congress, AZ. The autopsy determined she had been dead for a week or two. This suggests she was killed only a few days after being taken on the 21.
Her cause of death was not determined, but the manner of death was ruled homicide. There is little question she was murdered because she had been burned. There were no signs of obvious trauma to the body, such as gunshot or stab wounds or skeletal fractures from blunt force trauma. She was wearing rubber sandals made for an adult that were cut to fit her little feet. Her nails were painted and she was wearing shorts and a checkered blouse. These were the only clues given out to identify her.
Little Miss Nobody’s real name was actually suspected soon after she was found. Not too many little girls had gone missing in the Southwest at that time, making it likely that the two were the same girl. However, law enforcement stated that the little girl in the Arizona desert was at least seven years old and her feet were the wrong size to be Sharon Lee Gallegos. Technology was not as advanced in forensics by then and mistakes like this appear to be rather common. So her family went decades without answers; her mother and older sister both died without ever knowing what became of the little girl. If you drive by their lot in on Virginia Avenue in Alamogordo, it is empty, without even a house on it anymore, and a thick aura of grief hangs over the place.
Sharon was buried in Congress with the name “Little Miss Nobody” and she was one of the most famous Jane Does for many decades. Her burial was funded by a local radio host and many people attended. She was given a lovely headstone, as well as a pale blue casket.
Between 2016 and 2018, UNTHSC took DNA from Little Miss Nobody to create a mitochondrial DNA profile. They created an STR profile and uploaded it to CODIS, but there was no match. NamUs also tried to compare the profile to a sibling, with no luck. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office turned the case over to Othram. Othram took her skeletal remains and ran a special test called Forensic-Grade Genome Processing. They were able to build a usable DNA profile, despite the age and degradation of the remains. This was then compared to a DNA sample from Roberto Juan Gallegos, Sharon Lee’s brother. It was a match!
Theories
Why was this spunky, precocious cutie killed? Before Sharon was identified as Little Miss Nobody, people theorized that the couple wanted a cute little girl, which is why they stole her. People hoped she had been raised by the couple and was still alive somewhere.
Now that we know that did not happen, we can only speculate that maybe the couple wanted Sharon as a daughter, but she was unruly and refused to be a cooperative victim. That is why they killed her. Or perhaps they had even more evil desires for her and killed her when they were done with her. Perhaps she even managed to escape, but they caught up to her and finished her. Perhaps they sold her to someone who then ended her life for whatever reason.
Sources do not mention if Sharon was sexually assaulted, so it is impossible to rule out whether or not this crime was sexually sadistic. The coroner may not have been able to determine if she was sexually assaulted based on the decomposition and burning of her body. The fact she was clothed does seem at odds with most sexual assault cases, where victims are typically discarded nude.
Some people, including police in the 1960s, posit that Sharon was abducted by a family member or someone familiar with the family. This seems unlikely, given that family members and friends of the family did not recognize the couple who took her, and Sharon was leery of them. She probably would not have acted that way had she known them. On top of that, Alamogordo is a fairly small community of just over thirty thousand today, and in 1960, it was even smaller. Everybody knew everybody. Her kidnappers were not known and multiple people noticed how aberrant their behavior was. This really makes me think that these people were not from Alamogordo and they were not known to the family.
Of course, this is all speculation. The truth is that we don’t know what happened to Sharon, and maybe we never will. This case is over 60 years old now and getting farther and farther from answers. That being said, I am not ready to give up hope, and neither is the rest of the true crime community. The amazing strides in DNA technology and forensic genealogy by Othram identified this girl decades after her harrowing discovery in the Arizona desert. Maybe DNA will lead to her killer or killer being found, too. There are several examples of very old cold cases getting cracked open, often by one small detail, and I hope that happens for Sharon.
The Aftermath
Many people care about Sharon Lee Gallegos, and they still want to see her case solved and justice brought to her abductors if they are even still alive. When Othram began its amazing work, the five grand needed for her DNA testing was raised in a day. Many people working at Othram poured their hearts into the arduous task of isolating DNA from old, decomposed bones, exhumed from Sharon Lee’s grave in Arizona, and then finding a 100% match with Sharon’s family members.
Throughout the decades, many others have shown how much they cared, as well. Many people showed the little girl kindness when they came together and buried her in a proper casket and grave with a beautiful headstone inscribed, “Little Miss Nobody. Blessed are the pure at heart.” The money for her funeral and pale blue casket was raised by Yavapai County radio announcer, Dave Palladin, and the service was officiated by Dr. Charles Franklin Parker who had many beautiful words to say over the girl. Yavapai residents attended the funeral and someone left a note on Sharon’s grave saying, “Forgive us, child, for the weakness of men; and, in turn, when in your final home, pray for us.” Even people who didn’t know the girl’s identity at the time grieved her and saw the senseless cruelty of her death. Too bad her kidnappers could not show the same love and kindness.
Sharon has a new resting place now, next to her mother in Tularosa. Her headstone is now inscribed with her true name. It seems very fitting that she has been returned home and given her name back, but the same Bible verse is included on her headstone.
Sharon’s abduction left a shadow over her family for decades. They claim they are “overprotective” of their kids now and it’s hardly a wonder why. Her older sister, mother, and aunt have all since passed, without ever knowing the truth. It breaks my heart that they had to die still wondering about where their little girl was. Maybe it’s better, in a way, that they were able to hold onto hope she was still alive.
Ray Chavez is Sharon’s nephew and he has been following the case all his life, even writing a research paper about it in high school. He is elated by the news that his aunt was finally identified and brought home. Though she died before he was even born, he was raised with her spirit and her memory, as well as the trauma surrounding her abduction.
This is an odd case and it hits a little too close to home because I have lived in Alamogordo for many years. Raising children is scary enough as it is; but this local horror story reminds me not to ever get complacent. Alamogordo is safer than most places, that is for sure, and it a tight-knit community. But horrible things happen to kids everywhere. Squeeze your babies close, if you’re a parent, and don’t trust anyone!
Sources
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/us/little-miss-nobody-identified-arizona/index.html
https://medium.com/true-crime-by-cat-leigh/little-miss-nobody-3219ce9a6771
https://www.newsweek.com/girl-heart-62-year-old-little-miss-nobody-cold-case-identified-1688802
https://www.forensicmag.com/584308-62-Years-Later-Little-Miss-Nobody-is-Identified/